


i'll rust with you

by awkwardfantasy



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Gen, Hugs, Jonny d'Ville and Nastya Rasputina are Siblings, No beta we die like the mechanisms, Post Out, but in SPACE!, only mentioned a bit but its there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27851842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardfantasy/pseuds/awkwardfantasy
Summary: She’d been out here for so damn long that it almost didn’t seem real when she saw colour other than the grey of her own hands or the inky void of space. It felt even less real when she heard a voice speak, soft as though its owner cared for her but with disbelief as if whoever it was had never expected to see her.“...Nastya?”In which Brian and Nastya see a familiar face while drifting through the universe
Relationships: Drumbot Brian & Nastya Rasputina
Comments: 20
Kudos: 56





	i'll rust with you

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is my first time writing for the mechs so apologies if its ooc at all! also i know sound doesn't travel in space i remembered halfway through writing this but she has mercury for blood and he's made of brass so i think we can all suspend our disbelief a little bit /lh

Nastya is no stranger to the cold. Even the type of cold that caused frost to form on her skin was something she could live with. She’d been cold since she woke up on Aurora with mercury pumping through her veins, her only relief being the engine room, the heart of her Aurora. She sighed. Yes, the cold that came with drifting through the galaxies may have been something she’d been accustomed too since she was first mechanised but the complete opposite could be said of the isolation of it all. She pulled her heavy coat tighter around herself and shut her eyes. The cold was something she was used too, but this feeling of being lost and completely alone was something else entirely. 

She slipped in and out of consciousness as she drifted. At least, that was the nicest way of saying the cold of space was killing her as fast as the cold in her veins was bringing her back. She didn’t necessarily regret her decision to go out, but she wasn’t sure she’d make it again if given the choice. She’d been out here for so damn long that it almost didn’t seem real when she saw colour other than the grey of her own hands or the inky void of space. It felt even less real when she heard a voice speak, soft as though its owner cared for her but with disbelief as if whoever it was had never expected to see her. 

“...Nastya?”

Brian had been pulled in from the void, rebuilt, and told he was immortal. But the crew of the Aurora were dropping one by one, and the drumbot couldn’t shake the feeling that he was to be next. When he got the first sign that the metal that encased his heart was losing whatever kept it beating, he decided it was only right he complete the cycle of his existence and return to the void from where he came. It hurt, leaving without saying a word to the people he had come to consider his family. He knew that the others, Jonny especially, wouldn’t let him go if they knew his plan or had found him at the airlock. But they didn’t and they hadn’t so he left and just hoped that they wouldn’t miss him too much.

He figured he wouldn’t have been able to do it had he been set to MjE instead, but the ends of not making the other mechanisms watch him die justified the means of leaving them in the first place. However, one thing he hadn’t thought of was how long it was going to take for him to finally die. Or for his deaths to start sticking, he was sure he’d died at least a few times drifting through the void. He wasn't sure how long it had been when in the corner of his eye he saw a woman curled up and wrapped in a familiar coat, and he was almost certain that his eyes were malfunctioning. Still, he figured there was no harm in calling out to her. 

When she looks up and blinks at him, her eyes squinting to get a better look, he’s certain that she’s real. She looked as if she was going to speak but coughed, her voice was rough with disuse but she sounded… hopeful. 

“...Brian?” 

Nastya tried to reach out for her friend but felt a sharp pain at moving her arm after being in the same position for however many decades she’d been out here for. But Brian took hold of her barley outstretched hand and pulled her closer to him. She curled into his chest, Brian may be no Aurora but he’s so much better than the empty embrace of the darkness. He ran a brass hand through her hair and tightened his grip on her. 

“Never thought I’d see you again,” he said after a moment of silence. “None of us did.”

Nastya didn’t respond. She didn’t let go either, which Brian took as a sign to keep talking. 

“It’s understandable you got upset, but you should talk to us first before planning something like that. At least tell me, or your _brother_ ” 

Nastya had always kept to herself, more so than the rest of the crew. But she’d always been close with Jonny and of course with Aurora. And as her pilot, Brian likes to think he’d built a pretty decent relationship with Aurora, enough so that Nastya would come and speak with him too. It was nice, until she disappeared. He felt a small pang of guilt at the realisation that he had done the exact same. 

“What about you Brian?” she finally spoke, looking up. “Why are you out here?” 

Brian was quiet for another moment before sighing. 

“We’re dying Nastya”

She looked at him, clearly confused. 

“Dying properly. Without coming back.”

“Wh-what? How?” 

Brian shrugged as best he could while still clinging to the engineer. 

“Recently when we die, there’s a chance it just… sticks. No rhyme or reason to it, just pointless deaths.”

Nastya was quiet again before moving so that she was holding Brian’s arms, and could look better at his face. Brian could see hers better too. Frost bit at her skin which seemed less greyer than the last time they’d spoken. Her glasses were long missing and her eyes had a... sadness behind them. 

“...So you left because you couldn’t watch anyone else die.” 

“Close.” he sighed, “Nastya I left because I think I’m next. I-” 

Nastya moved positions again and pulled him back into a hug which Brian happily sank into. 

“M’sorry” he continued, holding his friend close. 

“Don’t. Please. I- I probably don’t have much longer either. I’ve been alive for so long. So _fucking_ long” Her grip tightens. “But… can you stay? Until one of us doesn’t come back. It’s so cold out here.” 

Brian understood and smiled. “Of course, you don’t have to ask. Just… rest for now, ok? You’ll be alright. We both will.” 

"Can you lie right now?" she asked quietly. 

"Do you actually want to know?"

Nastya paused in thought for a second before shaking her head and burying her face in Brians shoulder.

And the two continued to embrace. Dying and waking up holding onto the other, until one of them didn’t. Brian started his existence alone in the cosmos and Nastya by losing her family. But they’re making the decision now to end it together. Not alone. Not scared. Just one final fuck you, to whatever fates said that they don't get a happy ending.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on instagram @awkwardfantasy, twitter @shelbyssword, tumblr @awkwardfantasy, or my mechs tumblr sideblog @nastyaaurora


End file.
